Former star Wisconsin running back Montee Ball was the Broncos’ second pick — 58th overall — in the 2013 draft, and one week into the season, he’s doing his best to earn a starting job in a somewhat wide-open competition. In Week 1, he finished with eight rushes for 24 yards. He’s still adjusting to the pro game and to playing behind a quarterback who was the No. 1 pick in the draft when Ball was 7 years old. But Ball has found a level of comfort with the NFL — and the thin air of Denver. This past week, he sat down to talk about the start of his pro career and his first impressions of his new team and city.

Q: It has only been the preseason and one game, obviously, but do you have a highlight of these first months in the NFL?

A: As of right now, I have to go with the first game of this season, just because it’s a different vibe from the preseason. The speed of the game is a little faster; players’ juices are flowing a lot more just because it’s real now. The fans are more into it. You have more fans in the stadium.

Q: Speaking of Broncos fans, what are your early impressions?

A: I was a little surprised about them. They bring a great intensity to the game. They’re not bad fans at all. They’re most definitely into it, and that’s what you want as a player. You want fans that understand what’s going on. At Wisconsin, it was like that, and our fans are most definitely into the game — die-hard Badger fans.

Q: But at Wisconsin, you were the star, and here it’s different. Are you enjoying flying under the radar a bit?

A: I guess, yeah, if you want to look at it that way. There are some things I want to work on, and I love how they’re bringing me along, the process that we’re doing at the running back position. I’m getting the opportunity to get a feel for NFL games, see how they are, see the pace and all that stuff.

Q: When you have a situation like the Broncos have at running back, with something of a platoon, is it important that everyone get along even more so than when there’s a clear hierarchy?

A: We all understand that we all came here to be the starter, and if you’re not the starter, you can’t be mad at the person who is starting. We have healthy competition in our running back group. We’re friends and stuff like that, but when we get on the field, we’re competing. That’s only going to make the team better.

Q: So I guess you’re hoping for some more balance to the offense to get a better chance to show off what you can do.

A: I love running the football, so I would love more carries. But as an offensive coordinator, you have to definitely do what’s working. We have one of the greatest quarterbacks ever, if not the greatest quarterback ever, on our side, so let him throw the football.

Q: Speaking of that quarterback, was realizing you’d get to play with Peyton Manning one of the first things you thought of when the Broncos drafted you?

A: My entire life, I’ve been watching him, and then being drafted by the Broncos is a blessing, and then getting a text message from him that night shocked me. He congratulated me on being drafted and all that stuff, told me that (the Broncos) love my work ethic and would love for me to continue to do the same stuff here.

Q: I guess Manning is an upside of playing here, but is there a downside? Maybe getting used to the altitude?

A: The first two weeks, you know, with rookie camp and then going into OTAs, you felt it … a lot. It just is kind of like just a monkey jumps on your back, and then it takes a while to get used to. It takes about two weeks, and the first couple days, you can’t catch your breath. We most definitely love it, though, as of now, because we use it to our advantage at home games. Then we go on away games, and it’s like, wow. My first away game was San Francisco, and breathing in, it was just like, wow. It took a lot more to make me tired. We love the altitude.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Tyreek Hill didn’t know what to do when he started hearing thousands of people in Arrowhead Stadium chanting his name, even as he stood all alone on the frozen turf waiting for the punt.